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Hi. I need some help!I want to change my gtx 860m whith 880m. The laptop it's a Alienware m17x r3 2011. I will buy this premium account only to download a12 bios unlocked, now I have A08 unlocked. The card it's second hand and it come from a clevo laptop. I need to modify the bios,download some custom bios for the card? Thank you! Sorry for my bad English.

I've recreated the OSD Icons for the R1/R2/R3/R4 and R5 aka 17 as the standard ones are a bit dated. It should also work with the M15x though as my old M15x had the same setup for the OSD app. Regarding the R3 OSD, it seems its the same install for the M18x as well so it should work for you M18x owners too. I've also added the AW 17 OSD to the list. This exe is also compatible with the 14 and 18 as Dell uses the same OSD for all the new machines. There's also a set for you Area-51 m17 R1 owners.
I've tried to give it a simular feel to the Invader Icon pack by Alienware. Hope you guys like it

Install Instructions for R1
1. You need to end the OSD process in Task Manager since it may be using some of these icon files. Ctrl+Shift+Esc then find the OSD process and end it.
2. Backup your current icons if you want to revert to the originals (You can also uninstall and re-install the OSD application if you want to go back to the original icons)
3. Extract the attached "M17X R1-R2 & M15X.zip" contents to C:\Program Files (x86)\OSD\picture\. Overwrite if prompted.
4. Restart the OSD application. It is located in C:\Program Files (x86)\OSD\Launch.exe
5. Done!
Install Instructions for R2 /M15x
1. You need to end the OSD.exe process in Task Manager since it may be using some of these icon files. Ctrl+Shift+Esc then find "OSD.exe" and end the process.
2. Backup your current icons if you want to revert to the originals (You can also uninstall and re-install the OSD application if you want to go back to the original icons)
3. Extract the attached "M17X R1-R2 & M15X.zip" contents to C:\Program Files (x86)\OSD\ICONs\. Overwrite if prompted.
4. Restart the OSD application. It is located in C:\Program Files (x86)\OSD\Launch_OSD.exe
5. Done!
Install instructions for R3 / R4 / M18x
1. You need to end the OSD process in Task Manager since it may be using some of these icon files. Ctrl+Shift+Esc then find the AlienwareOn-ScreenDisplay.exe process and end it.
2. Backup the existing AlienwareOn-ScreenDisplay.exe by renaming it to "AlienwareOn-ScreenDisplay.exe.BAK" for example. Its in C:\Program Files (x86)\Alienware On-Screen Display\
3. Extract the AlienwareOn-ScreenDisplay.exe from the appropriately named file depending on your OS and model to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Alienware On-Screen Display\ folder.
4. Restart the OSD application by double-clicking the file.
5. Done!
Install instructions for 14 / 17 / 18 **
1. You need to end the OSD process in Task Manager since it may be using some of these icon files. Ctrl+Shift+Esc then find the AlienwareOn-ScreenDisplay.exe process and end it.
2. Backup the existing AlienwareOn-ScreenDisplay.exe by renaming it to "AlienwareOn-ScreenDisplay.exe.BAK" for example. Its in C:\Program Files (x86)\Alienware On-Screen Display\
3. Extract the AlienwareOn-ScreenDisplay.exe from the "AW 14-17-18 (Windows 8).zip" file to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Alienware On-Screen Display\ folder.
4. Restart the OSD application by double-clicking the file.
5. Done!
The Area-51 m17-R1 install should be similar to the steps for the other laptop revisions above. They all basically follow the same process anyway, apart from filenames/paths.
@robby_hd was kind enough to make a red version of these icons for the M17x R3 / M18x R1 which can be downloaded from his post here.
**There seems to be a security issue with Windows 8/8.1 at this point in time since it doesn't allow modified exe's. I will update this post with a solution once it has been found. Also a few Alienware owners are having an issue with the unmodified OSD and Windows 8. Only the default Windows 8 OSD displays and not the Alienware version. Try the solution posted by Dell here and then attempt installing the mod.
The below screenprint is a workaround by editing the security policies to allow the unsigned exe to run in Windows 8. If you are not aware of what these settings do and the repercussions of changing them, please do not attempt it.
- Open the Group Policy Editor by typing "gpedit.msc" in the search or run text box.
- Duplicate the settings below.
Area-51 m17-R1.zip
M17X R1-R2 & M15X.zip
M17X R3-R4 & M18X R1-R2 (Windows 7).zip
M17x R4 & M18X R2 (Windows 8).zip
AW 14-17-18 (Windows 8).zip
M17X R4 & M18X R2 (Windows 8.1).zip

I just installed a used 980m into my Alienware 17 R1, and I'm noticing benchmarks that are ~12% below what others are reporting online. I'm wondering if this is just meh hardware, if it's a vBIOS problem, or if it's a problem with my computer and not the card.

I noticed that the GPU is getting throttled under load... like, under any load. Here's the clock and temp during 3DMark Firestrike: